Curse of the Kitsune
by Lady Netiri
Summary: [oneshot]Inu-Yasha and Miroku take a shard from a vixen and get a warning. Failure to comply has Miroku seriously hoping this isn't one of those 'only-your-true-love-can-hear-you' things...


Disclaimer: don't own Inu-Yasha…though I'm putting him and the other boys on my Christmas list, so in December we'll see what happens, okies?

[A/N:] Thoughts are in _italics._ Miroku trying to say something is in _italics _**and **"quotes." I went back and edited and revised this, so now i have no doubts that its PG-13, not R.

— — — — — — — — — —

"I'm really starting to hate this…" Inu-Yasha growled as the group hunted down another shard.

"What choice do we have?" Kagome asked.

"None." everybody confirmed.

With that, the group fell back into silence as they trudged onwards in the direction Kagome sensed the jewel. When they found it, it was in the grasps of a small baby kitsune.

"Oy, brat," Inu-Yasha— king of tact as he was— ordered the kit, "hand over the shard."

In response, the kit turned the opposite direction and fled.

"Inu-Yasha," Miroku growled, slightly annoyed, "can you for once try to…I dunno…talk to somebody like a normal person and not order them around?! Intimidation doesn't work on everyone, you know!"

The girls stared at Miroku for that rather uncharacteristic show of emotion, but inwardly agreed.

Disregarding anything that had been said— or aimed at him by the girls under their breath— to him, Inu-Yasha turned the direction that the kit had taken off in. For some reason, he was feeling overly concerned about what would happen if they all went into those woods. Something was a bit ominous about them…

"Sango, Kagome, you stay here and make camp." Inu-Yasha ordered. "Miroku and I will get the jewel from that annoying fox."

Cutting off any protest, Inu-Yasha grabbed Miroku's wrist and headed off into the woods rather quickly; he was almost dragging the monk along. After they got a significant distance away from the girls, Inu-Yasha stopped.

"What was that about?" Miroku asked, annoyed at the hanyou's actions.

"Something's odd about these woods." Inu-Yasha confided. "I didn't want to bring the girls into them any more; they feel dangerous."

"So you mean you didn't trust me alone with the girls." Miroku said with a bland expression.

"I meant what I say, you useless idiot." Inu-Yasha growled. "Besides, the girls can hold their own with you and I seem to recall a little thing called 'Hiriakotsu' that can bring you back to being a good little monk if you misbehave."

"I'm so glad you're confident of our companions' abilities, Inu-Yasha." Miroku scoffed.

Before the conversation could take the nasty turn into a fistfight, Inu-Yasha saw something.

"There she is!" Inu-Yasha exclaimed as he recognized the kit.

Miroku turned to see the kit from earlier; or rather, he turned to see a wisp of her tail as she took off deeper into the forest.

"Inu-Yasha, you need to shut the hell up." Miroku sighed. Though it was probably better directed at the forest itself as Inu-Yasha had already taken off. Miroku sighed in irritation and followed the path of broken vegetation that his hanyou counterpart left in his wake. This would probably turn out to be one of those days…

— — — —

"I wonder what had Inu-Yasha in such a hurry…" Shippo mused absently as he played with his tops in the camp.

"I'm wondering why he only took Houshi-sama." Sango confessed while she brushed out Kirara's fur. "It's very unnerving. He didn't even give us time to protest before he ran off."

"I wonder what's the matter." Kagome sighed. "Though I do feel some type of weird presence in the area."

"You don't think he smelled Naraku and didn't tell us, do you?" Sango asked suddenly, stopping mid stroke making Kirara mew in contempt.

"Oh, Gods…" Kagome gasped.

"Even Inu-Yasha's not that stupid." Shippo commented, disinterested and still playing with his tops.

Kagome put a finger to her chin thoughtfully.

"You know what," Sango said, "Shippo's got a point. Even Inu-Yasha's not **_that_** stupid."

————

Inu-Yasha came back into Miroku's sights. He had stopped—abruptly, if the furrows around his feet were any indication.

What's his problem…?

Miroku understood as he took another step and saw what was formerly hidden by a tree in his line of sight. A scantily clad, short vixen stood in front of Inu-Yasha with her claws flexed threateningly. Behind her was a male kitsune that was almost a full head taller than Inu-Yasha; he looked extremely pissed off at the moment. Clinging to the vixen's leg was their quarry; the kit with the jewel shard.

Miroku took a deep breath, knowing that Inu-Yasha would have said nothing intelligent to the vixen in his defense, and walked over. When he finally reached them, the vixen turned cold, hard amethyst eyes on the pair.

"So you two have been chasing my kit…?" she growled at them.

Inu-Yasha for once used his brain and allowed Miroku to do the talking. There was just something about this entire forest that had him nervous and on edge.

"I assure you, lovely lady," Miroku said smoothly while ignoring the warning grows of that male that was undoubtedly her mate, "we had no intention of harming that precious little kit in any way, shape, or form. We merely require the jewel shard she holds in her possession."

The vixen stared into his eyes, not at all flustered by his flattering comments. She picked up her kit and checked her over for any injuries. Finding none, she handed the baby fox off to—who they guessed, at least—her father.

"Since you have cause no harm and none of our Clan has use for the jewel, tainted as it is, I will hand it over to you." the vixen said as she gently took it from her kit. "Now take this cursed thing and be gone off our lands, man whore, before I have my mate curse you like the **dog** you are."

Noting the seriousness in her tone and the strange gleam in her mate's eye, the boys took the shard, thanked her and returned silently to where the girls had set up camp. It never once occurred to them that maybe the camp wasn't quite out of the kitsune's territory…

————

"So, what happened?" Kagome asked eagerly over dinner.

"A kitsune bitched at us for a few minutes and gave up the shard without a fight." Inu-Yasha replied between slurping his ramen.

"You're kidding, right?" Sango asked with a dubious expression.

"Actually, Lady Sango," Miroku said, "that's basically what happened—though I would have put it in more appropriate terms for ladies' ears."

"What a load of shit…" Shippo sighed.

"Shippo!" Kagome scolded.

"It seems Inu-Yasha's language has rubbed off on him." Miroku observed with raised eyebrows. "Well, I'm going to go to sleep, good night."

"Good night."

As Miroku lie down in his makeshift bed under the stars for the night, he could have sworn he heard some bizarre chanting and felt some weird magic in the area. Shrugging it off as just his worn nerves after dealing with a fussy hanyou all day and tiredness, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

————

The next morning, Miroku woke feeling very strange. He rolled over onto his stomach and yawned. His clothes felt strangely large and baggy on him and the ground was more comfortable than normal.

He sat up, yawned again, and looked around; the area around him seemed higher than normal.

Maybe I slept in a ditch…Miroku thought absently as he scratched an ear with a hind paw…__

…Wait—hind PAW?!

Not only did Miroku have paws, he had the ears, tail, head, and the smooth-coated body of a medium-sized dog.

He jumped up out of his clothes and tried to yell but what came out was a horrified bark that succeeded only in waking Sango from her sleep.

Sango sat up, yawned, and stretched wondering what woke her up out of her perfectly peaceful sleep. Miroku saw her and was at her side in an instant.

"Oh, hello there," she greeted what she thought was an ordinary puppy with a pat on the head. "You must have come by sometime last night." she said as she quietly stood.

Sango scratched the dog's ears as she walked over to the small fire that was still going; he whined all the way.

"Is the puppy hungry?" Sango asked with a smile.

"No, damnit! It's me! Miroku! The monk! Houshi-sama…! The letch…?"

All Sango heard was a series of growls, yips, and barks that she took for a 'yes' from the obviously famished dog. She hummed an internal melody as she made breakfast for herself and the whining, barking dog behind her.

"Shh…" Sango scolded lightly. "You don't want to wake Inu-Yasha and the others, now do you?"

Of course! Miroku thought. _Inu-Yasha should be cursed as well!_

With those thoughts, Miroku bounded over to the tree where Inu-Yasha had been sleeping.

"Inu-Yasha!" Miroku barked.

"Shut the hell up!" Inu-Yasha growled from his tree.

Kagome woke up, as did Shippo.

"Who are you yelling at, Inu-Yasha?" Kagome asked with a yawn.

"Miroku, duh!" Inu-Yasha snapped as he sat up.

"Houshi-sama's not up yet." Sango commented.

"What are you talking about?!" Inu-Yasha shouted as he jumped from the tree. "He just shouted my name!"

"The only one who made any noise was that dog." Sango defended, pointing at the pup in question.

"Then who called his name?" Shippo asked.

"It was Miroku!" Inu-Yasha protested. "I know his annoying voice anywhere!"

Sango sighed and went over to the dog that was looking slightly amused at the entire exchange. She patted his head and ruffed his ears only to find something solid underneath his slightly long hair.

What the…? Golden earrings...? Who would give a dog golden earrings?

Sango fondled the earrings for a few seconds before realizing that they were oddly familiar. She looked over to where Miroku had been sleeping the night before—it was just plain weird that he hadn't woken up with the amount of shouting going on—to see his empty robes. Sango looked at the dog again to see him perversely watching Kagome's butt as she yelled up in Inu-Yasha's face.

"Oh, Kami… Guys," Sango said, interrupting the argument, "unless Houshi-sama has taken a sudden liking to running around the forest naked, which I honestly couldn't put below him, this"—she said pointing to the indignantly snorting dog—"is him."

————

"_This isn't fair! I'm a monk for the love of the gods! I help people and what do I get? Cursed! Not once, but twice! And I'm not even the dog demon of this group! This had better be a dream! It has to be! But…it's too weird to be a dream."_

Sango sat in silence as did the rest of the group and listened to Miroku's barking and doggy whining. They all stared at him, but who could blame them? Miroku had been turned into a dog!

Miroku shifted uncomfortably under their gazes. They were rather unnerving.

"Do you mind not staring at me like that!?" Miroku woofed irritably. _"You're giving me a complex."_

Inu-Yasha looked away, being as he was the only one that heard his request.

"Girls?" Miroku growled as they continued to stare. When he got no response, his doggy brow furrowed. _"Shippo…?"_

Still no response.

Great! Only Inu-Yasha can understand me! This had better not be one of those 'only your true love can hear you' things or I'll kill myself! No, I'll kill Inu-Yasha, **then **myself… This isn't fair!

"You're freaking him out with those stares." Inu-Yasha grunted. "Knock it off."

"Sorry," Kagome, Shippo, and Sango said as they looked away.

Miroku sighed in appreciation and subconsciously wagged his tail in reassurance.

"I would love to know how this happened," Sango sighed, taking a quick glance, "and if there's a way to fix it."

"Yeah," Kagome agreed, "but he's so cute now!"

Miroku gave her a look to say: "And I'm not normally cute?"

"'Cute' don't help us win battles." Inu-Yasha grunted. "I'm not sure how it happened, but I'll bet it had something to do with that vixen and her mate."

Miroku could have smacked himself, it was so obvious—if he had the hands to do it. This being a dog thing really sucked… Any matter, of course it had to be the vixen! They probably weren't quite out of her territory and she'd made good on her threat. It also explained why only he was affected; she'd threatened him specifically by pointing him out as 'man whore'.

"We have to find that vixen!" Miroku barked, forgetting that only Inu-Yasha could understand him.

At the strange looks from the girls and kit, Miroku growled a few choice words before asking Inu-Yasha to translate.

"I'll find the vixen." Inu-Yasha declared after he explained the monk's findings.

"Alone?!" Kagome asked incredulously. "What would happen if you got hurt and was out there all by yourself?! You see what happened to Miroku—and he's got way more tact than you!"

"Kagome…" Inu-Yasha growled, clenching a fist.

"I'm going with you, and that's that!" Kagome declared stubbornly.

Inu-Yasha sighed in defeat. It was no use arguing with a female as stubborn as Kagome.

"Sango, stay here and protect Miroku, will you?" Inu-Yasha sighed.

"Sure." Sango agreed.

"Oy!" Miroku barked angrily. _"What do you mean 'stay here and protect Miroku'?! I'm going too!"_

"No, you aren't." Inu-Yasha growled. "I don't want you getting in the way. You'll stay here like a good little doggy or I'll have Sango tie you up."

Miroku glared and growled at him but said nothing.

Taking the noticeable lack of witty remarks from the monk-turned-dog as triumph, Inu-Yasha began to attend to more important matters—namely, getting Kagome to leave Shippo behind on their little excursion. It was proving to be one of those things ranked up pretty close to impossible, and after a few hours of pestering and getting continually sat, Inu-Yasha gave up. It really wasn't worth the bruises.

"We'll get you back to normal, Miroku." Kagome assured as they were leaving.

Shippo nodded in agreement from his victorious spot on Kagome's shoulder. Inu-Yasha grunted before leading the group in the last known direction of the vixen.

Once they were out of earshot, Sango chuckled lightly.

"Normally, being alone with you, Houshi-sama, would make me nervous, but now your hands aren't a threat."

Miroku gave her an annoyed look—a doggy version of one, anyway.

"Rub it in, Sango…" he groaned.

Sango giggled.

"Poor Houshi-sama," she teased as she patted the top of his head. "Are you hungry?"

Miroku wagged his tail and woofed.

"I'll take that as a yes," Sango said with a smile as she gave Miroku some breakfast.

While he was devouring the food she'd given him, Sango began looking through her pack. She was getting ready for a bath, Miroku realized with a doggy grin when he saw her pull out some of that 'shampoo' stuff that she'd squirted in his eyes when she and Kagome had caught him peeking once. Man that had burned… Then he noticed she had something else in her lap, hidden from his view.

Being incorrigibly curious, Miroku stalked stealthily over to see what it was. He realized all too late that all the stealth in the world couldn't stop Sango from hearing him.

————

So there he lie; on his stomach with his head on his paws in a most irritated manor. He sighed angrily at Kirara because she seemed to be mocking him; sitting just out of his reach and grooming herself. He'd never had homicidal thoughts about a cat before, but when he got loose, the demon kitty was dead.

Sango's giggling and splashing in the water didn't help his mood any either. Knowing that Inu-Yasha wasn't around to stop him from sneaking a look, just a rope that he'd been too curious to dodge, annoyed him further. This was putting him in an Inu-Yasha like mood.

"Sorry, Houshi-sama," Sango giggled after she got dressed and returned to him, "but I had to do it. You would have wondered off."

Miroku gave he a glare that she only smiled at.

"I suppose you want that rope off?"

"Hell yes!" Miroku barked with an irritated tail wag.

Sango complied and scratched his ears when she let him go. Miroku stuck his tongue out at Kirara who raised her eyebrows and then continued to clean herself. Sango seemed not to notice the dirty glares her two companions were exchanging as they walked back to camp.

Sango began to busy herself with polishing her Hiriakotsu.

As the day wore on, Miroku started to get hungry again. He tried giving Sango 'the look' but to no avail; she was still intently working on her weapons. Miroku tried nudging the bag of food Kagome left them towards her feet and met with the same response. He admitted defeat when his stomach growled and made Kirara flinch and barked for Sango's attention.

She looked up, much to Miroku's glee.

"What is it, Houshi-sama?" she asked him.

"I am hungry, lovely Sango." he whined in a doggy way.

"Are you feeling well?" Sango asked as she came to his side.

DAMNIT! I forgot! She can't understand a word I'm saying! SHIT! Miroku thought angrily.

Sango patted Miroku on the head before grimacing.

"Houshi-sama," she said as she wrinkled her nose up, "you really need a bath."

————

"I just wanted some food…" Miroku sighed inwardly. _"Then again, I probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to see Sango in one of those 'bikini' things that Kagome brought from her time otherwise…"_

Miroku got doused with yet another bucket of water by the object of his thoughts.

"Well, Sango," he muttered, _"this wasn't the way I pictured our first bath together, but it'll do, I guess."_

"You just said something perverted, I know it." Sango muttered as she took out some shampoo and began to rub it in Miroku's fur.

————

"Listen, vixen," Inu-Yasha growled at the vixen he and Miroku had met the previous day, "we didn't know we were still on your territory. Nothing happened to your kit so lift the damn—"

"What he means," Kagome interrupted before Inu-Yasha could shove his foot further into his mouth, "is since they didn't know they were still on your land and that nothing happened to your kit, could you please take the curse off our friend?"

The vixen was about to curse them all for daring to challenge her when Shippo came from behind Kagome's hair.

"Please take the curse off Miroku," the kit pleaded with dewy eyes. "They really didn't mean any harm."

The vixen looked startled that a kitsune was with a hanyou and a human. Then she noticed the way the girl was holding the kit and how the hanyou seemed determined to protect them both and smiled.

"For you to have taken in an orphaned kit, you can't be bad people. My name is Katana and you are welcome on my Clan's land," she said regally. "I will have my mate lift the curse from your friend if you will grace us with your presence for the night."

"Thank you!" Kagome squealed.

Katana led them to a hut. Before entering, Shippo jumped from Kagome's shoulder to Inu-Yasha's head.

"And _you_ didn't want me to come!"

Inu-Yasha grumbled under his breath.

"Didn't quite catch that," Shippo said with a hand cupped around his ear.

"You're right…" Inu-Yasha mumbled.

————

As the sunset, Miroku could have sworn he felt a twinge of magic run down his spine. Shrugging it off as him being still slightly wet, he followed Sango back to their camp.

Sango stared into the campfire until she got bored and determined that it was time for bed.

"I'm going to sleep, Houshi-sama," Sango said with a yawn. She then added with a slight blush: "You can come too if you want. I mean, it doesn't really count for anything since you're a dog and all…"

Miroku's tail was going a mile a minute.

"I'd love to, Sango!" he barked happily.

Sango smiled and moved to the spot she'd claimed on the ground the previous night. She lie down and patted a place next to her stomach for Miroku to sleep. He made his way over with his tail wagging feverishly and lay down. He licked Sango's hand and was rewarded with a pat on the head.

Miroku listened as Sango's breath evened out, indicating that she was asleep. He drank in her scent with his powerful doggy nose and was quickly intoxicated.

Before drifting off to sleep, he felt another twinge going down his spine.

————

"So you lifted the curse?" Inu-Yasha asked Katana's mate.

"For the tenth time, hanyou," he sighed with mild irritation, "I've lifted the curse off your man whore of a friend at my mate's request."

"Just making sure." Inu-Yasha said defensively.

"He should return to his normal state sometime tonight," Katana assure everybody while stroking her kit's tail. "I just hope that woman you left him with won't flip out when she sees him nude in the morning."

"She'll do more than flip out…" Shippo commented under his breath.

"I hope he's still alive when we get back…" Kagome muttered.

————

Sango shifted comfortably the next morning. She snuggled into something warm and solid, but comfortably so. Something warm was around her waist and tangled in her hair.

Wait a minute…WHAT THE HELL?!

Sango very quickly opened her eyes and met with a muscled human chest.

"HOLY SHIT!" Sango shouted.

The human male next to her opened his eyes.

"What the hell was that for, Sango?" Miroku asked grumpily while rubbing his head.

"Miroku!" she exclaimed as she sat up extremely fast, dislodging his hands. "You're normal!"

Miroku sat up and patted his chest.

"I do believe you're right, dear Sango!" he said with a smile—as much for the fact he was normal as for her calling him by name (not to mention her being in such close proximity to him).

"And…NAKED!" Sango shouted with a heavy blush as she tried to back away. She succeeded in only toppling herself over.

"Your gift of observation is amazing, Sango." Miroku said as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Sango cleared her throat, trying to force an intelligent response to form itself in her head when it was all she could do to stop starring at…Miroku. He still hadn't made any move to cover himself.

"Well…I'm a demon slayer…I have to be observant." Sango choked out. It seemed intelligent enough.

Miroku nodded, then stood up and walked over to Sango. He offered his hand out to the blushing girl.

"Need some help?"

Sango couldn't form a sensible sentence so she just took his hand and closed her eyes to keep from staring at his incredibly muscled body.

STOP THAT! Bad, Sango! BAD!

"Sango, you need to let go of my hand now so I can get dressed." Miroku said. "Unless you'd rather me keep my clothes off, which I have no problem with."

Sango said the first thing that came to mind: "Sure."

"Wha—?" Miroku asked suddenly, hiding none of the surprise he felt.

"NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Sango cried as her eyes flew open as she realized what she'd just said.

"Of course its not what you meant, lovely Sango." he said as he used her own grip on his hand to pull her against his chest.

Sango's face turned red for a different reason.

"You stupid pervert!" she shouted. "How could you even—"

Miroku stopped her by closing his mouth over hers in a gentle, quick kiss.

"You're irresistible when you're angry." Miroku told her when she looked up in shock at his face. He gave her another gentle kiss on her slightly parted lips. "And when you're in shock as well."

Sango could have died a happy woman just then but she felt something warm make its descent to her rear.

"PERVERT!!!"

————

"What's that?!" Katana asked as she and just about everyone else in the kitsune village was jolted awake.

Kagome sat up and yawned.

"I'd say Sango just woke up." Shippo said happily.

Inu-Yasha shook his head.

————————

[A/N:] When I went back and read this, I realized that some of it seems to be kinda bashing Inu… ¬.¬ Well, I was angry at someone when I originally wrote this, so I guess I took it out on the poor sod… Oh well! It **_is_** a Sango/Miroku fic, as I'm sure you could tell by the ending. [snickers] I loveded it! (yes, loveded) [sigh] now I must get my act together and write the next chappy in Hagakure. I love that fic…

Raven: ¬.¬ Review…


End file.
